Your sales bridge to success!

Menu

Tag Archives: security

Buying gifts can be a wonderful way to express gratitude or appreciation for another person. But when you don’t know the recipient very well, it can be a problem. Putting thought into your gift and getting something that will be liked and used is great, but sometimes you don’t have a clue where to begin. Wrong gifts can create an awkward situation. eGift cards are the perfect solution – that way the recipient can choose something they will truly enjoy. But is it safe to use eGift cards? Here are some tips on how to use them without compromising your security.

Buy from Legit Sources

This sounds like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how easy it is sometimes to be lured by fake offers. If an offer seems too good to be true, believe your instincts. Whether you are buying or receiving the card, only do so if it comes from a trustworthy, reputable site. Furthermore, there are some regions that are seen as more reliable (less fraudulent) than others, which is why, for instance, issuing a co-branded prepaid card in Hong Kong, may make it somewhat more credible. If you receive a text or email saying you got an eGift card, make sure that the link actually leads to the official online store of the company in question. Check carefully to see whether there are any spelling mistakes in the URL – if there are, it’s likely a fake. The gift buyer should always have the courtesy to let the recipient know they got them a card, and let them know which store it is from.

Don’t Brag Online

Taking pictures of everything in our lives and posting them on social media is such an ingrained part of our daily lives that we sometimes forget to use common sense. Posting a picture of your eGift card is a big no-no. By doing this, you are essentially giving everyone all the information they need to use your card. Beware strangers lurking over your shoulder too, don’t lend other people your phone, or leave it lying around if it’s not locked with a complex PIN number. Basically, an eGift card is just like cash, and you should treat it as such. You wouldn’t leave your wallet unattended, so don’t leave your card information either. Cybercrime is very much real, but it is also something that can be avoided if you act reasonably.

Don’t Use Shady Apps

When it comes to apps you can use for eGift cards, it’s best to stay on the safe side. Your best bet is to use official store apps. The process is simple: you create an account on the official website of the store, then download their app and log in with your account username and password. After that, you can use the app to make your purchase. The recipient of your gift will typically receive a notification email with a barcode. Official apps are also the safest way for recipients to save their cards. Alternatively, there are a few reputable apps that you can also use for storing the gifts, such as the Google Wallet, Apple’s Passbook, and the Gyft mobile app. Wallets like the Google one and GoWallet have their own scam and fraud monitoring systems, which brings added safety. These security systems ensure that no transactions can be made without the owner’s authorization. If fraud is detected, the account is immediately suspended for the user’s protection.

The most important thing is to be vigilant and reasonable. In case your phone gets stolen, lost, or if you suspect it has been in any way compromised, it’s best to be prompt. You need to pause or suspend your account before the eGift card is redeemed. However, if you follow the few simple security rules we’ve mentioned, you will surely be able to enjoy giving and receiving gifts without any trouble at all.

Cybersecurity is becoming a bigger issue for businesses with each year that passes. Whereas before smaller companies were usually safe from any major attacks, nowadays, even the smallest companies have to worry about someone breaking into their system, stealing their data and/or keeping it for ransom. Since the majority of smaller and even many medium-sized companies have limited budgets, they usually go outside for their cybersecurity. And this is a very good idea.

Expertise

The first reason why you should outsourced cybersecurity for your company is the expertise you will be getting from an outside partner. Cybersecurity is a field that transforms on a daily basis and, for someone who is not absolutely in the loop; things get very chaotic very soon. An outsourced cybersecurity partner will know exactly what your vulnerabilities are (after doing penetration testing), how to address them in the best way possible and how to deal with possible attacks that do take place.

Tools

In order to be able to handle attacks from all over the world, a company needs to be supplied with the finest tools that are available on the market. Unfortunately, such tools cost an arm and a leg, and a smaller company can never hope to afford them. Your outsourced cybersecurity partners, on the other hand, will have all kinds of tools at their disposal and they will be ready to deploy them for you when need be.

Costs

There are a couple of ways in which you can put a price tag on your cybersecurity. For example, you may start putting together a budget for your own dedicated team of employees who would do nothing but take care of your cybersecurity. You factor in their salaries, the space they will be taking up and the tools they will need and you soon realize it is an insane expensive proposition, even if your company is doing well.

Then, you start thinking that maybe it is just not worth it and that you can leave your company wide open to attackers in the hopes they will not target you. Now, think about what it would cost you to close down your company for a few months, not being able to do a single thing. That is a reality if you are hit by even the crudest piece of ransomware. What are the costs there?

In the end, it is more than obvious that the only logical solution is to hire an outsourced cybersecurity partner who will handle your security at a fraction of a price that you would have to pay to handle it yourself or to ignore it.

Education

Last but not the least, we also have to mention the value of proper education in cybersecurity matters. Education of business owners, C-suite, managers and individual employees is a basis of every secure company and that is where your outsourced cybersecurity partners can also come in handy.

Namely, you will often find that such companies are ready to put together a class or two on cybersecurity basics for the people in the company. And these are actually the right people to be telling you about their industry. There is nothing worse than when someone who never worked in infosec tries to tell people how to keep their company systems safe.

Closing Word

When you go through all the reasons why outsourced cybersecurity makes sense, it really makes no sense to go any other way. You get expertise (perhaps even education) and tools and you get them at a price that more than makes sense.

There is no doubt that outsourcing is becoming an important part of the modern world of business. Companies from all over the world are finding out-of-house partners who allow them to do a better job, to provide their services cheaper and to, all in all, improve their operation in every way possible.

The scope of services that are being outsourced has grown over the years and various companies now outsource their sales department, their IT and accounting departments, as well as their marketing and even their security.

And while there is absolutely no dilemma whether outsourcing is a sound business tactic, there are also a few things that companies need to be careful about, above everything else about the security.

Sharing of Information

The main reason why companies that outsource need to be careful about their security is that they are sharing an increased amount of information with other companies and outside partners. For example, a company that has approached an outside marketing agency might find themselves in a situation where they have to share sales figures and other, perhaps even more sensitive, data about their finances. Whenever a company is working on a project with someone, they have to share certain data and it is easy for this data to get intercepted or “lost”.

Moreover, since the outsourced partners might have remote workers themselves, this will “spread” your data even further, involving all kinds of cloud solutions and remote access platforms. This is why you will want your partners to use high quality encrypted cloud storage as well as channels of communications that are secured by layers and layers of software which will ensure nothing leaks.

Human Error

Another potential problem with outsourced partners is that you are increasing a number of people that have access to critical aspects of your business, which due to simple numbers, leads to increased vulnerability of your business. This is particularly true online where an increased number of people is at risk of becoming victims of social engineering and other ways to breach someone’s data.

Outsourced partners often work with a large number of clients which can only “complicate” things and make it more likely for them to mix something up, share access details with persons who should not have access to any part of the operation and more.

Human Malice

This is something business people do not like to think and talk about, but it is the harsh reality. Sometimes, people wish to harm a company, whether for personal reasons (like after getting fired) or for financial gain. This is something companies always have to worry about from inside, but with outsourced partners, the number of people to keep an eye on increases.

It is easy to imagine a situation where a disgruntled employee of your outsourced partner decides to steal sensitive information and then post it online or even sell it for profit. Sure, there are always legal actions that you can take, but this will do very little to help you in a situation where your company data has been exposed.

How to Avoid It

In order to avoid any security issues with your outsourced partners, it is absolutely vital never to rush into such a relationship with any company that you are not sure about. Only after you have checked their reputation and looked at their characteristics should you start working with them.

Another way to minimize chances of anything happening to the security of your outsourced relationship and your company in general is to hire an agency like Globality Consulting who have years of experience in the field and who will put you in touch with only the most professional and secure partners.

Edward Snowden’s big reveal about the NSA invading the privacy of individuals has thrown up a number of disturbing issues, not least of which is the feeling among ordinary people like us that Big Brother is really watching.

It is a violation of human rights to privacy, undoubtedly, but it also reveals the scale of control that is exercised over other nations and people. And, as this early discussion by Bloomberg contributing editor Richard Falkenroth shows the fallout of the reveals has been big even in the sphere of international relations and business.

Impact on Businesses

The discovery that the United States government has its eyes on you can have all sorts of repercussions on all types of businesses, small or large, in the US and across the world.

1. Rising Doubt: Business Data Is Not Safe With The Government

When you share important business data on the US government’s data hubs, you have to trust that these centers will keep your data safe. This data can be anything from website passwords, proprietary product recipes, trade secrets or billion dollars’ worth of research.

Some businesses spend a lot of money to protect their information from the prying eyes of competitors.

US tech companies like Apple, Yahoo and Google lead the world’s technology industries and thus far, have had the best security systems in place to protect the confidentiality of clients and users in their internal networks.

But the NSA leaks have made it clear that governments are constantly spying on each other and hacking into each others’ computers. If even Yahoo and Google servers were not safe from the US government’s surveillance teams, this means that your billion dollars’ worth of research can easily be accessed by international competitors if your government’s systems are hacked into.

The sense of the vulnerability of data shared on US data centers is bound to create a sense of doubt regarding whether you can trust the government to keep your data confidential and safe from global competitors.

There is certainly reason enough for such doubts. If a ‘high school dropout’ like Edward Snowden working alone was able to gain access to sensitive and top secret information, it is a foregone conclusion that your data is not safe from far more skilled hackers across the world. What does this mean for the security of your data in the future?

2. Growing Mistrust Of US Businesses and Tech Companies

The hacking of US tech and Internet giants has also revealed a web of lies that can have a great negative impact on the business world. These companies have claimed that they were not aware of the government’s surveillance activities, but later went on to retract their statements by saying that they were under orders to reveal millions of records from their internal servers on a daily basis. This has led to a growing mistrust among people of US tech companies. While that may not impact the regular Windows user or iPhone owner, if other countries are becoming vocal against the US tech industry, it becomes a big issue.

Cisco’s revenues have slumped as a result of the NSA leaks. The company says that ever since the leaks, orders in China and from other overseas customers have plummeted. Shareholders are also expressing their great discontent, with one IBMshareholder suing the company for failing to disclose the risks of cooperating with NSA’s spy program. Other Silicon Valley companies like AT&T and Verizon are also facing their shareholders’ wrath with investors similarly filing lawsuits against them.

3. Businesses Moving Away From Data Centers Ruled By US Laws

When you store data on a global server online, the laws of the location of the server apply rather than the laws of your country of residence. Cloud storage for frequent business travelers has been a much-lauded innovation. The idea behind it was to reduce the risk that business travelers face when they carry important data on hard drives that they are at the risk of losing during travel.

But more and more people are becoming wary of US data centers for cloud storage, because it is US laws that apply to data stored on such servers. As a result, companies like MacquarieTelecom are providing data storage in locations other than the US. The Australian government is a big client of the company’s local data centers which hope to help reduce cyber attacks against the government’s systems. More such companies are flourishing to meet the greater demand for cloud storage in locations outside of the US.

This MT’s video tries to depict current issue:

So, are the NSA leaks bad for business?

Yes. The fallout of the leaks is unfolding as we speak. It is clear that US businesses are suffering from a lack of trust, not only from customers but also from shareholders. The importance of trust in business is unarguable.

And global businesses that depend on US tech companies have also been losing out as a result. Since they can no longer trust the safety of their data, they have to look for alternate solutions. But there aren’t many of these yet, with US tech companies leading the field of security solutions.

And it is only a matter of time before smaller companies feel the trickle-down effect of the leaks. Businesses that have been spending loads of money to get their data secured are going to realize that there is little point in doing so if all of it ends up on a government hub that puts it beyond their control. The very idea of data security in our global world is at risk today.

According to a Forrester Research analyst, if something is not done to restore confidence in data handling, the US technology industry could suffer losses of $180 billion by 2016.

Add to that the fact that we are living in an increasingly connected world and like me, ordinary people are starting to wonder how private our social media interactions really are. The media has not been laudatory of Edward Snowden, but it is clear to a layman like me that the powers he is working for are the monsters here.

One disturbing question that clearly arises from Snowden’s role in the whole fiasco is how was a man who was so unqualified allowed access to such sensitive information?